A LIFE SKETCH OF ABRAHAM BRAEGGER JR. AND MARIANN STAUFFER
Abraham Braegger Jr. was born October 24, 1863 in Wattwil, St. Gallen Switzerland, a son of Abraham Braegger St. and Salome Brunner. He was the oldest of eleven children, two of whom died in infancy. Abrahams’s family worked hard for their living, and the children learned young to be good workers and assume responsibility. When Abraham was a young boy, his family was visited by Mormon missionaries. His father, desiring to learn more about the church, would walk most of the night to attend the meetings that were held in a different parts of the city. It would be nearly morning before he returned to tell his family the thing she had heard, and his voice would ring with conviction as he talked of the gospel.
Abraham’s family joined the L.D.S. church in 1874, and they decided they would someday to America to live. It was ten years later, in 1814, that Abraham, who was then 21 years of age, and his sister Susanna left Switzerland. They traveled with a Mormon missionary, and after reaching the United States, they came west to Utah, and settled in the little town of Willard. Abraham lived with a Stauffer family where he worked to pay for his transportation, and to help the rest of his family to come to America. They came two at a time, and they all traveled with missionaries who were returning home. After Abraham and Susanna, George and Emanuel came, then Barbara and Jacob, then Louise and Gottlieb; and Bertha, who was the youngest, came with her father and mother. By 1887 the entire family had left Switzerland, and were living in Willard, Utah.
It was here that Abraham Jr. met Mariann Stauffer, who had also joined the church in Switzerland, and had come to Willard with her family to live. Her family moved to Providence, Utah, a little later, where Mariann worked during the summer picking raspberries. After the berries were picked, Mariann would walk to Logan to sell the, carrying the cases in a harness hanging from her shoulders. After working all day, she would help to haul hat at night with the moon for light. Abraham and Mariann’s courtship was a simple one, consisting of visiting in the home and gong for walks in the evening, often walking to the fields to check on the crops. Abraham and Mariann were married in the Logan temple on December 7, 1887. They settled in Logan for a short time, where Abraham delivered the mail. They then moved to Willard where they lived the rest of their lives. They had eleven children; six sons and dive daughters. Abraham passes away at his home August 4m 1936 at the age of 72. Mariann lived alone in their home until her death 18 years later. She passes away May 22, 1954 at the age of 89.
Facts collected and compiled by Verda Braegger Bott: Read by Irene Braegger Checketts at the Braegger Family Reunion August 16, 1969